~ A blog about travelling, with allergies.

Author Archives: allergianabroad

Amsterdam: a dichotomy of beauty and edginess. A city filled with the beauty of the picturesque canals and buildings, contrasted with the edgy drug and sex scene so enshrined in its culture. Oh, how I loved it. I loved how different streets and areas in Amsterdam were representative of Amsterdam’s many dimensions: Haarlemmerstraat, with its ‘soul food’ cafes and “coffee shops”; Brouwersgracht, with the most beautiful and fancy of canal houses; Prisengracht, with its gorgeous canal, bikes lining the street and cute canal-side cafes; Rembrandtplein, with its bright lights and buzzing night scene; the Negen Straatjes, with its quaint streets filled with buzzing vintage, quirky and specialty stores; Vondelpark, with its serenity unique to the buzz of Amsterdam and De Wallen, a stunning canal lit by red lights and foot traffic.

Vondelpark

Red Light District

There are so many icons typical of Amsterdam: the cheese.. the red lights.. the clogs.. the poffertjes.. the tulips.. the croquettes.. the windmills.. the stroopwafels….. and we made sure we experienced them all (in some form or another).

We stayed in an Airbnb apartment on Prinsengracht which typically summed up our Dutch experience – cute, quirky and steep-as-hell stairs leading up to it (honestly, this was just about as steep as the stairs to get into the Anne Frank secret Annexe.. we actually contemplated leaving our suitcases in the apartment lobby downstairs).

Our days were spent wandering the canals, admiring the architecture, chilling out in Vondelpark, shopping, eating lots of food and visiting the many tourist sites (think the Anne Frank house, the windmills, Bloemenmarkt, the clog factory, the wonkiest café, the cheese factory, the sex museum and the range of quirky novelty stores, such as the condomerie and the doorknob store).

The wonkiest cafe

Our nights were spent wandering the red light district (for me, this mostly involved admiring the high heels worn in the windows) and chilling out at Amsterdam’s many bars scattered across Dam Square and Rembrandtplein.

The unique culture in Amsterdam meant that we ended up going on two walking tours. I love going on free walking tours in most cities, as they give an excellent overview of a place with a person who loves their city, learning fun facts and history not otherwise learnt. We first went on the free walking tour, which covered things like the 3 rules of Christian tolerance for all things typically Amsterdam (1. it must be good for business 2. it must not cause harm and 3. it must be subtle), the architecture in Amsterdam (including the reason for the wonky buildings), bike crimes of Amsterdam, cheese in Amsterdam and a visit to the narrowest house in Amsterdam.

The narrowest house

We loved the tour (and the guide) so much that we signed up to go on the paid walking tour of the Red Light District that evening. This was a really interesting tour and explained things like: how a typical transaction in the Red Light District works, the typical price, how safety of workers is maintained, where the workers tend to come from and how they get there, whether men are permitted to work, Amsterdam’s laws surrounding prostitution and more. We were also taken to an (optional) ‘peep show’, which was pretty funny given we were on a tour with a group of 15 strangers!

The food in Amsterdam wasn’t a particular highlight, though I did have a few interesting experiences. There were the delicious poffertjes, the cheese incident and the windmills… but you’ll have to wait to hear more about that!

In my last post, Beerfest. Prost!, I promised you more on the foodie culture in Munich.

Munich really surprised me in this department. Spain, Italy and Greece, where we had just spent the past month and a half, very much had food as a central part of our adventures (in fact, I’m desperate to go back to Italy literally just for a bowl of pasta), but these are not exactly countries with foodie cultures. The food is excellent and authentic, but eating out is not an ‘experience’ as you would describe it as such in, say, a typical Melbourne café. And then came Germany, which apparently is vastly different in this respect.

It all began on our first morning in Munich, when we left our apartment on the lookout for a brekky spot. The evening before, when lugging our (well, really, my) oversized suitcases, backpacks and carry bags to our apartment, I had spotted what looked like a cool café and just had to go back.

Using my not so great sense of direction, we eventually found it – Kaffebar Aroma: a funky décor, low-stooled, big mugged café. It was just what I felt like and just what I had been missing the past few weeks. Despite the fact that my various dietaries pose quite a few restrictions on eating brekky out (i.e. brekky features lots of eggs, dairy and avocado), I still love going out for a good ol’ breakfast. But breakfast in the former countries we had visited usually consisted of coffee and a croissant (which I’m definitely not complaining about, but basically breakfast options were pretty minimal). So, I was pretty excited to find this café, with a fully-fledged breakfast menu. Especially, that is, when I looked at the menu and noticed that they had ‘on tap’ lactose free milk! This was a fantastic discovery for this lactard, after having missed a good milky coffee for the last 2 months. This is hard enough to find in a Melbourne café, let alone in the middle of Europe (or so I would have thought). The staff were nice, the food was good and the coffee was just pure deliciousness. It even ticked the BF’s criteria: big mug = bigger portion sizes.

Whilst I don’t like to frequent the same place too often when travelling, given we were living in an AirBnB apartment, Kaffebar Aroma became our local morning coffee stop. Who says you don’t need coffee before beer…

Kaffebar Aroma interior

Kaffebar Aroma low stool exterior

We also went to a nearby bakery one day, which had enticed us inside by the colourful and delicious pretzel display in the window. We were deciding what to buy, and discussing my nut allergy with the staff, when a German local interrupted us. He kindly informed me that just down the street was a bakery which caters for allergies. Fantastic! Once we eventually found the place he was referring to, we were helped by their friendly staff into buying a selection of pretzels and pastries which were Allergian-safe. And let’s just say: Munich’s pretzels are significantly better than the much-anticipated-yet-highly-disappointing New York pretzels!

Pretzels everywhere!

My final great discovery was made when we were at the local grocery store, stocking up on some supplies for our apartment. They had a whole ‘dietary requirements’ section in the little store, packed full of lactose free, gluten free, etc items! I had a ball. *note: one of the Cadbury-equivalent, plain dairy milk chocolates, Milka, (which I saw in Munich and Amsterdam) contains hazelnuts.

At every other place we ate at in Munich, my allergies were pretty easy to deal with. All staff understood well, dealt with them appropriately and I never felt that it wasn’t taken seriously.

Even at Oktoberfest, there was plenty of food options (generally, pretzels, schnitzel and chips are pretty safe options). I usually ate at the food stalls outside the beer halls and the staff working there were also really friendly and helpful.

A few other food recommendations:

Hey Luigi: This place was right by our apartment. We ordered the veal schnitzel, which is served with roast potatoes and salad. This was seriously delicious and was a huge serving of food (which the BF loved). I would definitely recommend this place – cool atmosphere, nice staff and is open late!

Hey Luigi

L’Amar: We ate lunch here one day and I had a really great bowl of pumpkin risotto. This was like a delicious home cooked meal (that I had really missed for the past 8 weeks or so)!

For all you avid-Ancient Greek historians out there, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I am going to leave out my time in Athens from the writings of this Allergian’s journey Abroad. The reasons being that 1) I was extremely sick in Athens, so food was not really a highlight, 2) I didn’t really like Athens [#sorrynotsorry] and 3) my time in Athens was pretty short.

So onto my next adventure: the land of lederhosen, bratwurst, strudel, wiener schnitzel, pretzels and, of course, beer. That’s right, it was time for Germany, and, more importantly, Oktoberfest! My time in Germany was really more of a quick dabble – a 5-day stop in Munich, pretty much only for Oktoberfest – saving the rest of Germany and Eastern Europe for a future trip when I had more time (any excuse to hop back on that plane).

I LOVED Munich. I really didn’t expect to like it so much, nor Oktoberfest, but it really won me over. For many reasons.

First up, you have the magical, fairytale feels. The place is just mystical, from the buildings of Marienplatz, the Glockenspiel and the HUNDREDS of people (aged anywhere from 3 to 80!) wandering the streets dressed up in dirndl and lederhosen [granted this feature is (I assume, to my disappointment) limited to the weeks of Oktoberfest.. but hey, semantics].

Marienplatz

Lederhosen-lined streets

Then you have Munich’s cooler, edgier side. The BF and I stayed in an AirBnB apartment on Holzstraße, which was nearby a bustle of trendy cafes and restaurants. Coming from a city that has a coffee and foodie culture that rivals no other, Munich is the perfect way to whet those foodie suppressed appetites [that’s not to say that the food wasn’t excellent in Spain, Italy and Greece, but these aren’t exactly cultures featuring kale, coconut milk superfood smoothies or Broadsheet] and (good) coffee cravings that we’d been missing for the past 2 months [sorry, Spain, Italy and Greece, but your black coffees are just no comparison to a Melbournian, hipster barista-made single origin, choose-your-own milk customized coffee order]. More on the food department in my next post.

Pumpkin risotto

The next thing important aspect of Munich is its history. A city oozing with history, I would really recommend the free walking tour to learn of the strange Michael Jackson monument, WWII history and the history of the toilet facilities at Hofbräuhaus, and so as to be given the opportunity to rub (the Statue of) Juliet’s boob for good luck [of course].

Michael Jackson monument

The Statue of Juliet and her lucky boob

Finally, you have Oktoberfest. The magical, magical place of Oktoberfest. If I’m honest, I didn’t think that I would really enjoy Oktoberfest. I thought it would be pretty fun for the first few hours, but it is truly an indescribable event. The sense of togetherness and connection that I felt in the room of Hofbräuhaus, singing along with thousands of others dressed in their lederhosen and dirndl, was amazing. We made friends with people from all around the world, sang and drank with people of all ages [including playing ‘Have You Ever’ with an old American couple and their son who, let’s just say, will probably be forever scarred by his parents’ disclosures], drank steins full of beers and radlers [Prost!], danced on the tables to old-school favourites, like Living Next Door to Alice, YMCA, We are the Champions and, of course, Ein Prosit, and ate far too many pretzels. It was epic, to say the least, and I would do it all over again tomorrow.

As well as all the incredible scenery that Santorini has to offer and all the things to see/do, the food itself is not too shabby. We had some of our best meals of Greece (and, I’m almost willing to say, of Europe!) in Santorini. πολύ νόστιμο! Welcome to this Allergian’s food tour of Santorini. Be prepared to eat your heart out!

We begin our journey at Pelican Kipos. We stumbled upon this restaurant by accident – and luckily we did! This was definitely our fave restaurant of Greece and is in close competition to Trattoria Za Za’s in Firenze. Firstly, for the ambiance – this place has a lovely courtyard, outdoor area, full of trees and greenery (you’ll feel a bit like you are on a tropical island). But, more importantly (because really all we care about is the food, right?), the food was outstanding!! I ordered roasted lamb with potatoes and vegetables, served in a ceramic pot. I received a massive piece of lamb, which was so deliciously soft and juicy. This was, forks down, the best lamb I’ve ever tasted. We just had to go back a second time, so that the BF could enjoy it too. It is a bit on the pricier side (by Greece standards), but oh so worth it.

We also went to Pelican Kipos for breakfast one morning, as we just HAD to try the waffles which we spotted the night before (and waffles are my weakness). These waffles were thick delicious waffles, which we loved! Pelican Kipos also has every type of breakfast combo imaginable!

The next stop on our ‘great restaurants in Santorini’ tour is Nikolas. Our hotel recommended this restaurant to us and, upon arriving to a long queue out the door, we knew we had to wait. We were told it would be about a 25-minute wait, but luckily we were called after only a few minutes. We were served by the owner (let’s call him Nik). Nik was really helpful and was particularly great with my allergies. He told me a story about an Allergian who had eaten at his restaurant (without informing them of her allergies) and had an allergic reaction in his restaurant! Because of this, Nik was so petrified of this happening again that he took extra care with me. He ran me through the menu and oversaw the cooking of my meal. I ordered the roast chicken with potatoes and carrot in a lemon sauce, which was really delicious.

Finally, we had a great gyro at Nick the Grill [a different Nick to the one above], which is rated the best gyro in Fira town. This was actually one of the few places I found in Greece that served lamb gyros. This came as a huge surprise to me, because I would have expected lamb to be the basic meat there. It was great!

Our hotel also recommended we have breakfast at Mama’s House. We went there one morning and, whilst “Mama” was hilariously joking around with us, the service was far too slow. It was, however, very entertaining watching one waiter literally running from table to table to save time (I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this before).

I also treated myself (cheating on my lactose intolerance) to a frozen Greek yoghurt at Chillbox. This was one of those places where you choose your toppings, but this was a bit more Allergian-friendly in that the store puts all the toppings on for you (rather than a DIY Allergians’-worst-nightmare sort of a situation). So I had a box of frozen Greek yoghurt, both vanilla and natural flavours (I’m a rager) and it was too good!

One thing to try in Santorini (or in Greece more generally) is the Greek coffee. The BF tried this at Pelican Kipos with our waffles and, apart from the fact that he did not drink it properly (I didn’t know you could drink something ‘incorrectly’ but basically he ate the ground coffee that was at the bottom of the cup), he would definitely recommend coffee lovers give it a try.

As previously mentioned in my post Meat Me Halfway, allergies didn’t seem to be particularly common in Greece and there was a bit more of a blasé attitude towards allergies than I experienced in other countries. But at proper restaurants (as opposed to casual gyro takeaway style places), waiters always dealt with it appropriately and, due to the nature of the foods I ordered, I never felt unsafe or unsure about what I was eating.

We didn’t eat at all in Oia Town, but there were heaps of nice looking restaurants lining the streets (with amazing views). You will also find plenty of restaurants through the weaving streets of Fira Town, particularly on Erythrou Stavrou (where Nikolas is).

One thing to note is that there wasn’t an abundance of restaurants serving other cuisines (or maybe that was just because I had my Greek food goggles on). Therefore, if you can’t or don’t eat meat/fish, it is probably worth doing your research first as to restaurants you can go! Pelican Kipos, for example, has a very extensive menu.

We hope you enjoyed our food tour today. Thanks for stopping by! The next stop on my Eurotrip was Athens!

So very appropriately named. Joy is a little chain gourmet cupcake store in Melbourne that I’ve just discovered.

Joy is one of those cutesy boutique stores (2 in Melbourne CBD, one in Chadstone shopping centre and one in Doncaster) with every cupcake flavour under the sun. Each one looks more delicious than the last. Salted caramel… red velvet… dark chocolate… rhubarb… lemon meringue… jam donut… cinnamon sugar… you name it – they’ve probably got it.

I first went to Joy to get a co-worker a little birthday treat. As I began gazing at all the delicious bundles of Joy in front of me (knowing full well that Allergians don’t really get to indulge in such treats), I saw a big sign with familiar lettering – NF, DF, GF, V. I don’t know why I even thought to ask, but for some reason I did:

Allergian: “when you say ‘nut free’, what exactly do you mean?”.

Expecting the normal answer of ‘well, there’s no nuts in the cupcakes, but there may be traces and…’ I then noticed that the all-familiar normality of cakes/desserts littered with nuts was non-existent. There were in fact only one or two cupcake flavours with nuts, and these were banished away to the corner (just the way the “NF, GF, DF, often taste free cupcakes normally are!).

Nice lady behind the counter: “The NF cupcakes are entirely nut free and are made in an entirely different factory.”*

But a few weeks later, I was doing some shopping in Chaddy and walked past this joyful cupcake stall again. I thought I’d treat myself (shopping is cardio right?). I asked the lady behind the counter again, in case this store was different to the Melbourne CBD store.

Well – you betycha – I received the same response. Entirely NF. No traces, no risk of traces. I think it’s interesting that Joy doesn’t market themselves as the highly allergy-friendly place that they are. Whilst I cannot judge their cupcakes against those of other similar stores, based on the number of people in their stores, they either clearly make great cupcakes or there are a lot of people with allergies.

So I took the plunge. Even though I eat at restaurants that serve nuts and eat packaged foods which say “may contain traces of nuts”, this seemed too good to be true. It was way too foreign to be ordering a cake/dessert at one of these boutique dessert stores.

I thoroughly enjoyed my cupcake (ok fine I had two, but who’s judging?). I ordered a salted caramel and a dark chocolate and they were so gooood!

As I bit into these delicious cupcakes, and brought joy to the little girl in me (who had missed out on all the deliciousness that most little kiddies get to enjoy), I realised just how easy it was for this little cupcake store to bring joy to us Allergians. THANK YOU JOY – I thought you deserved a special mention!!

* Disclaimer: I’m not sure whether this is the same for the other types of Allergens. Please make your own enquiries before consuming!

The next stop on our Greek isle hopping adventure was the beautiful beautiful Santorini! (somewhat shockingly, this was almost a year ago to the day – wow this year has gone by fast!).

Santorini was probably my favourite Greek island overall. Between the amazing scenery, the donkey rides, the lovely shopping, the awesome day trips, the incredible sunsets and the delicious food, this place is a winner!

So, firstly – the scenery. Santorini was by far the most beautiful of the Greek islands we visited. It has breathtaking views both from Oia town and the cliffs of Fira town. Add to this the island’s famous sunsets and you have a perfect combo.

We watched the sunset twice from Oia – the best place to watch is from the abandoned type castle. This spot gives you amazing views of the sunset on the sea, and also the reflection of the sunset on the white buildings of Oia (think Santorini’s famous pink sunsets). Be sure to go a bit early to get a good spot (preferably up on the raised section) and stay until the sun is completely set, so you can watch all of the buildings light up. It is so beautiful. And to top off the wonderful experience, everyone claps at the end of the sunset.

Sunset in Oia Town

Sunset in Oia Town

The other viewpoint that I’d recommend to watch the sunset from is Franco’s Bar in Fira town (or a similarly located bar). We went at about 5pm and booked the comfy hammock-type chairs overlooking the cliffs of Fira town. This is an awesome place to relax and watch the sunset, enjoying some cheeky beverages at the same time. We got there at about 6pm and sat there for the next 2 hours in absolute heaven. I’d definitely recommend!

Watching the sunset from Franco’s Bar

Watching the sunset from Franco’s Bar

The donkey rides. Well…

I had a love hate relationship with the donkey rides. That is, I hated the donkey ride while on the donkey, but I loved the donkey ride as soon as I had landed back on safe ground. The donkey rides typically take you either from the sea level up the cliff to Fira town or from Fira town down to sea level. Our hotel reception told us it can be quite dangerous to go down, as the poor donkeys can slip. So we decided we would go up instead.

We got to the donkey station and the gruff Greek man told me to get on the donkey. I got on, somewhat nervously, and waited patiently for the BF to embark his donkey. All of a sudden, my donkey was OFF! I turned around screaming for the Greek man and the BF, before realizing that my expectation of a nice, relaxing man-led donkey ride (picture: a young child’s ride on a donkey walking in circles) was horridly incorrect. This was not going to be anything at all like that. I got over my initial anxiety of this alone time with me and Mr. Donkey, noting that Mr. Donkey seemed to know exactly what he was supposed to do. This was a simple case of follow the leader.

Or not.

My donkey was obviously bored of this frequent routine of walking up the cliff, most likely sick and tired of us tourists coming along and making him carry our heavy selves up the cliff (I mean, how lazy are these tourists anyway?). My donkey obviously liked to add some variety to his day by misbehaving. You see, unlike the other donkeys who walked up the cliff in a straight line, MY donkey (who I appropriately nicknamed “Wonky Donkey”) walked in diagonal lines. This meant that a) it took twice as long to get up the cliff (the BF, who got onto his donkey a long time after me, arrived at the top of the cliff long before me) and b) it was shit scarey (Mr. Wonky Donkey was essentially walking towards the cliff end with no muss, no fuss). Wonky Donkey also did not follow the ordinary etiquette of stopping when other donkeys were in his way. It’s far easier to walk right through a roadblock of donkeys – right?

In conclusion, I’d like to formally apologise to all those who were within a 10km distance of my donkey ride on 16 September 2014 who had to listen to my screams. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my donkey ride and quality time spent with Mr. Wonky Donkey, but only once I was back on safe ground. So if you are brave enough, I would definitely recommend a donkey ride in Santorini.. but maybe not with Mr. Wonky Donkey. Here is a photo of him, so you know who to look out for.

Mr. Wonky Donkey and I

Santorini also has some great shopping, both in Fira town and Oia. There are heaps of beautiful jewellery and clothing stores, as well as touristey and other non-touristey shops. It is great to get lost wandering the weaving streets through each of these towns.

Finally, the awesome day trips.. As opposed to Mykonos and Ios, where our days pretty much involved lazing by the pool/beach, there is heaps to do and see in Santorini.

On our first day, we went on a (pirate ship) tour, which we really enjoyed. We first went to the natural hot springs. These were awesome! I had read mixed reviews about this online, but I really liked it. Problematically, you have to swim quite a distance from the ship to the hot spring area, however some people on our tour were given a floatation ring if they weren’t good swimmers. Alternatively, if you don’t have such forethought (like me) or are simply a daredevil, you can (like me) swim there on your own, but then make the BF swim back to the ship to get you a floatation ring, to then swim back to you to bring you said floatation ring, so that you can safely make it back alive.

You go from the cold, deep bright blue water into the muggy brown ‘warm’ shallow water that comprises the hot springs. It was an awesome experience. If you do this, keep a look out for the cute mountain goats that jump around the mountains above!

The Hot Springs

The tour then took us to the active volcano. It is a bit of a distance to walk to the top (but really only because we had done nothing but eat gyros, lie by the pool, party and drink alcohol for the past week or so), but worth it for the incredible views at the top. There are 2 spots on the island to look (or smell and feel) out for – the first is where you can smell the sulphur from the volcano, the second is the hole in which you put your hand in to feel the immense heat of the volcano. It’s really awesome. Ask your tour guide to point these out!

The volcano

Another must do in Santorini is to visit the beaches, of which there are all shapes and sizes (or, more importantly, colours). There are the white beaches, the black beaches and the red beaches. We visited both Kamari and Perissa beaches, which are both black beaches. I loved these as the contrast between the black sand and the bright blue water is beautiful. We also went to Red beach, which is also fantastic.

Tip: DO NOT take the water taxi to Red beach. This water taxi is the most illogical taxi – it goes from Perissa beach, but only lets people ON and not OFF. You then have to travel to white beach and black beach, before returning to Red beach when you are allowed to disembark from the captive water taxi. This was a massive waste of 40 minutes (and was relatively expensive) when instead we could have walked 10 minutes from the bus stop (unfortunately, we did not know this at the time of embarking). The walk also has stunning views.

Black beach

Red beach

I promise I’m not paid by the Santorini tourist department to write such glorifying reviews – I really do just love this place. And don’t even get me started on the food.. stay tuned for my next post on everything FOOD related in Santorini.

Ios town is full of bars, shops and restaurants. The interesting thing about Ios is that (just about) no one actually lives on the island. Those Greeks who do reside on the island actually come from surrounding areas, largely Athens, for the tourist season and return to their home once the summer is over. And for every Greek person working on the island, there are probably 5 tourists working in Ios (predominantly Australians). This pretty much means that the whole island is dedicated to, and full of, tourists (again, largely from Australia). This gave Ios a strange familiarity, despite never having been before.

The view of Ios Town from our hotel room.

Mylopotas Beach

We arrived in Ios on the 12th of September, which was around the time of the last wave of people to the island for the year. Shops and restaurants were already starting to close up and the island had started to die down (though there were still plenty of people). My advice: if you want to feel the buzz of the place, try get to Ios slightly earlier, and definitely not after, 15th September to ensure you don’t miss out on what the island is all about. For example, Far Out beach club, one of the top party venues, had pretty much died down by this time of year.

However, if you are around in September and feel that the place is dead, do not fear. The crowds will miraculously appear at about 1.30/2.00 am and continue well into the night. Unlike in, say, Mykonos, where the streets were always packed full of people, Ios Town is dead quiet until people are ready to party (including during the day). Most people spend the day sleeping, by the hotel pool or at the beach.

There isn’t a whole lot to see and do in Ios. We spent most of our days by the pool or at Mylopotas Beach (by Far Out beach club), meandering through the town checking out the tourist shops [one massive sucker for souvenirs right here], bar hopping in the evening and, of course, eating! There are also a lot of water sports offered on Mylopotas Beach. Greece was about half way through our Eurotrip so it was the perfect chance to unwind, relax & recuperate (mostly our feet), save some money (our daily spend was well below the rest of the trip’s) and get prepared for the final jam-packed month of our trip (cue: Oktoberfest).

Now.. a bit about the food in Ios.

I know that I probably shouldn’t publicly admit to having Italian food in Greece (who does that?) but here goes… when the thought of another gyro made me cringe because of the recent burst of gyro consumption and we had begun reminiscing of our days in Italy, we luckily stumbled upon Ciao Bella, an Italian restaurant complete with a chef from Florence. How could we turn it down? The restaurant had a cosy set up – seated on cushions on the floor – and had lovely staff. Luckily, the food was delicious [and no, I’m not just saying that] and exactly what my body needed to prepare itself for some more gyro-packed days. I ordered some sort of a tagliatelle pasta with beef and spinach.. coupled with a perfecto serve of sangria [yes, I visited 3 countries in 1 night], it was a very tasty meal.

Our meal at Ciao Bella

Our meal at Ciao Bella

We also ate one night at Global Gourmet, which is in the main town. I ordered the lamb chops and roast potatoes. The lamb was super tender and juicy and, though a little bland, was really enjoyable. While I didn’t have dessert, I eyed the BF’s delicious Greek yoghurt and honey, which seemed like a winner.

My meal at Global Gourmet

Finally, we had our fair share of gyros while in Ios and, as always, each one was better than the next. There was one place (and I cannot for the life of me remember the name) that stays open all year long. The gyros at this place were pretty damn good. I think Pleasure is supposed to be one of the best.

There are lots of different cuisine options in Ios – I frequently spotted Mexican, Thai and Italian. There seemed to be something for everyone, though it is a bit tricky to research good eats or, even more so, locate them. There are plenty of cheap casual gyro-type restaurants, which are all cheap, deliciously fattening and drool-worthy.

In Ios, bar/club hopping is a must do. There are bars/clubs scattered throughout Ios town and you will often find that one minute a bar/club is packed full and the next it is empty (as everyone has moved onto the next place). There are also more chilled places where you can sit all night along the main strip, as well as more sophisticated/elegant bars along the outskirts of the main town (near the main road).

Definitely visit Orange Bar. They have the most amazing selection of shots, such as cappuccino, mint aero, maltesers, baclava, keylime pie and bounty. I, of course, could not have these because there were some nutty ones, but they are supposed to be incredible and taste like the real thing!

The shots at Orange Bar.

One bar to experience while you are in Ios is Slammer Bar. Now you are probably going to think I’m crazy, but I promise you I’m not making this up. At this mysterious place, Slammer Bar, if you choose to order the Slammer shot, you will drink a shot and then the barman will give you a helmet to put on and will hit you over the head [very hard, in fact] with an item of your choice. I did not take part in this activity (my head is way too precious), but it was mildly entertaining watching highly intoxicated people have their head slammed with a fire extinguisher, obviously thinking it was a good idea at the time.

I had a ball eating in Greece. I hadn’t eaten too much Greek food before visiting Greece, but realizing that the Greek cuisine pretty much consists of various forms of meat, I knew it would be a winner.

The next 9 or so days involved eating far more gyros than I’d like to admit. But when they taste that good and cost 2 euro (about AU$3.50!!), how could I pass it up???

The gyros in Greece (pronounced “iros” [… or something like that]) comprise your choice of meat, some salad, tzatziki and chips in a delicious pita bread. I always ordered the chicken, because, to my surprise, lamb gyros weren’t all that common in Greece. I had to leave out the tzatziki (because of the lactose), so it probably wasn’t quite as delicious as it otherwise would be, but it was still pretty darn good.

I found that wherever you went, the gyros were amazing. You don’t need to go to some fancy restaurant to get good food in Greece – and in fact, I think the less fancy, the more authentic.

The two best gyros I had in Mykonos were at Tropicana (surprisingly, given it is essentially a bar) and at Saki’s Grill House (which is known to be the best gyro in Mykonos). The Saki’s Grill gyros were huge and the pita bread, in particular, was to die for. I’d definitely recommend a visit! The Tropicana gyros tasted delicious and could be enjoyed while lounging on the beach soaking up the sun!

Tropicana

Saki’s Grill House

We also decided one night to splurge a little. The BF and I met up with 2 other friends and we went to a restaurant for a feast. Many of the restaurants offer these giant mixed plates to share between 2. We got chicken shashlik, chicken wings, sausages, hamburgers, pita, dips, chips and more. It was 26 euro for 2 people (about $38 for 2) which was pretty good value because we were popping afterwards! Apologies for the awful photos and, no, this wasn’t the full platter.

Our feast

Our feast

The thing I loved about this restaurant [and sorry I can’t remember the name], apart from the delicious and never-ending plate of food, was the ambiance. I remember it so clearly. You sit outdoors in the heat in a giant space cluttered full with tables, people, food and chatter. It was a hullabaloo, an organised chaos, an exciting pandemonium; it was wonderfully atmospheric.

Let me talk a bit about my allergies in Mykonos.

I don’t think that allergies are particularly common in Greece. Generally, when I gave my beautiful Greek nut translation sign, people thought I was a little bit crazy. I’d say that Greek people had a bit more of a blasé attitude towards allergies as compared to those in Italy and Spain, but that was possibly because of the nature of the food, in that there was probably no way that there would be nuts inside a gyro and therefore they thought I was crazy for asking. I wouldn’t say that they were careless about my allergies, but just that it wasn’t taken quite as seriously. I did, however, usually get a better response to my allergies when I was eating at hotel restaurants/bars (eg at Paradise Beach), where the staff are probably more accustomed to dealing with allergies.

This being said, however, I felt like I didn’t need to worry as much about my allergies because it was always pretty obvious what I was eating. You could see the gyro meat being cut off the spit in front of you, or you knew that you were eating plain meat without any sauce. There wasn’t anything snuck in there. I had also done a bit of research with my Greek friend, who gave me the low down, and so I knew that nuts are not particularly common in the Greek cuisine, but are quite common in Greek pastries/desserts (eg Baklava).

What I did love about Mykonos was that I got to enjoy dessert. Say what? OK well not dessert, per se, but let’s just call it that. You’ve all (hopefully) read about my disappointment in not being able to enjoy the exciting desserts in Spain and Italy, which generally consisted of nutty or potentially nutty delights. In Mykonos, when lying on the beach in the scorching sun, a delicious ice cream is exactly what one craves. Paradise Beach has a lovely little set up where you can get just about anything (there are restaurants, bars and also a little canteen-ey type place where you can get all sorts of snacks). I went to go look at what ice cream options they had and unfortunately faced a whole lot of gibberish (Greek) ingredients. Until I found the packaged Häagen-Dazs ice cream tubs – complete with English ingredients. Woohoo!

These were mini tubs and there were heaps of different options to choose from. Whilst there were 1 or 2 that contained nuts (but not peanuts), most of the flavours were nut free. The first one I had was crème brulee, which was beyond amazing. The ice cream had chunks of caramel inside, dripping with crème brulee sauce (which tasted a lot like real crème brulee). The second flavour I tried was the chocolate fondant. Wow was it good! It was chocolate ice cream with chunks of brownie, drenched in chocolate sauce. It was definitely worth cheating on the lactose intolerance front! Who needs an Italian hot chocolate or some sort of delicious Spanish pastry when you have Häagen-Dazs ice cream!? Ok I realise that for most non-Allergians, this isn’t all that exciting and it’s probably no comparison, but I’ll take what I can get.

For the vegetarians – I’m sure you would know to expect (almost) nothing but meat in Greece. There’s always the salad option though, and of course lots of cheese. Being an island, I’m pretty sure there were some fish/seafood dishes/restaurants on offer, but meat was the overwhelming majority.

For those allergic to dairy / the lactards – the Greek cuisine is full of dairy – between the tzatsiki, the halloumi, the Greek yoghurt and the feta, there’s plenty of it. That being said, however, it is easy to avoid these things and you can almost always leave the dairy out. There’s always something else to eat.

Some final words about Mykonos:

Ouzo. It’s the Greek specialty liqueur, more particularly, an anise-flavoured aperitif. AKA, if you don’t like liquorice, do not try this. My friends and I bought a bottle and were told to drink it 1 part ouzo, 3 parts water. I smelt the bottle and (as an avid liquorice-hater) could not bring myself to drink it [I think I was still scarred from the limoncello and grappa in Italy]. The far more daring 3 guys I was with took on the challenge and drank their shots of Ouzo and I got to enjoy the looks on their faces once they were downed. Classic!